3rd ID commander: Remember the fallen, support troops

Corey Dickstein/Savannah Morning News A packed room at the Westin in Savannah Wednesday afternoon listens to 3rd Infantry Division Comanding General Maj. Gen. Robert Abrams, the keynote speaker at the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce's Military Appreciation Luncheon.

Looking upon a packed room of fellow warriors and local veterans and civilians, Maj. Gen. Robert Abrams challenged his audience to do a little more this year on Memorial Day.

The commanding general of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division urged people to visit a national cemetery, a local ceremony, or to do what he will do — stroll through Fort Stewart’s memorial grove of Eastern redbud trees.

“Come to Fort Stewart and walk along Warriors Walk, and get a feel for what it means when you see 441 Eastern redbud trees — a memorial for every (3rd Infantry Division) soldier who has been killed in action or lost their life in Iraq or Afghanistan,” Abrams said. “It brings it home for you; it really does.”

Abrams’ remarks Wednesday came during the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Military Appreciation Luncheon at the Westin on Hutchinson Island.

With a model of the Statue of Liberty and an American flag flanking him on the right, Abrams — who comes from a military family that includes his father, famed Army Gen. Creighton Abrams who served as Army Chief of Staff and for whom the M1 Abrams tank is named — described his personal feelings about Memorial Day.

“I didn’t really appreciate the significance of Memorial Day until Memorial Day of 2002,” Abrams said. “... But that all changed for me on Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent start of operations in Afghanistan.”

Not until the deaths of his own close friends did the meaning of the holiday the nation will celebrate on Monday sink in, the general said. And it has stayed with him.

“For those who are in uniform today ... there is not a day that goes by that we do not remember at least one of our buddies, one of our friends, one of our soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice while he was serving our country; not a day goes by for me. And Memorial Day is that one day out of the year that we come together as a nation to remember and honor those magnificent men and women who died while in military service.”

‘Far from over’

Not only is it important to honor those who have fallen, Abrams said, it’s important to remember the thousands of service members currently deployed overseas.

The general — who will deploy the Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion to southern Afghanistan in August — recently spent time in that country where about 1,400 3rd ID soldiers from the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team’s 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment and 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment are currently serving.

“The fight in Afghanistan is far from over,” Abrams said, acknowledging that even as the U.S. draws down its troop total from the current 90,000 to about 68,000 troops by the end of September, workloads remain high as Americans continue to train Afghans to take the lead in combat operations.

The two 3rd ID battalions, Abrams said, have performed above expectations in their roles.

The 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment is attached to a Stryker brigade from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., in Kandahar Province — where Abrams will take control of the International Security Assistance Forces’ Regional Command South — to conduct counter-insurgency operations with Afghan Army and Police Forces. The 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment is spread across the country to provide security for Special Forces “A-Teams” and Navy SEAL platoons conducting village stability operations.

Other elements of the 3rd Infantry Division are expected to deploy by early 2013 to Afghanistan, Abrams said.

“Our Armed Forces remain at war,” the general said. “... I ask you to please remember those who stand today shoulder-to-shoulder against terror and oppression to carry our freedom’s torch both here and abroad.”

A supportive community

The Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce invited Abrams to speak, said Bill Hubbard, the chamber’s president and CEO, to allow the community to get a glimpse of what he and other service members have experienced during the past decade.

“I think whether it be standard civilians or the business community that we represent, there’s a huge appreciation for what these folks do,” Hubbard said. “They interrupt their lives, they risk everything, they leave their families behind. And you just can’t thank them enough.”

That support for the military community from Coastal Georgia, Abrams said, has made the lives of local soldiers who have endured back-to-back deployments since the 3rd ID invaded Iraq in 2003 a little easier.

Unconditional support of the Armed Forces “that goes well beyond the arch of traditional support that you might experience on other installations,” he said, is what makes Fort Stewart, Hunter Army Airfield and Coastal Georgia so special.

Hubbard said he hoped the crowd would leave Wednesday with a sense of the sacrifice the Armed Forces make.

“Because of the wonderful quality of life we have, we all, sometimes take that a little bit for granted,” he said. “So, the more times you can stop, you can recognize and appreciate it, it seems like the least we can do. It’s just as important as it gets. To see these guys, and hear those heartfelt words, you realize that you’re in pretty good hands.

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